As the world scrambles to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5°C, countries have been designing and submitting their national climate action plans that show their contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement was adopted by 195 countries in December 2015 and governments agreed to undertake rapid reductions thereafter and set more ambitious targets every after five years. As in previous agreements, climate finance has been identified as linchpin in making the Paris Agreement successful.

As the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is being pressured to approve more projects and target disbursing US$2.6 billion by end of 2016, indigenous peoples’ issues are being left out.

In its 13th meeting of the GCF Board in Songdo, South Korea on June 28-30, 2016, indigenous peoples expressed their concern that the GCF is out of sync with the emerging international good practice and transformational approaches.

Quezon City, Philippines, 08 August 2016 -- “We are victims of war and victims of peace,” claims a lumad leader from Mindanao, southern Philippines as indigenous peoples gather to celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. 

“While we have a law – the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act - that recognizes our right as indigenous peoples to manage our resources according to our systems, our rights are being violated as a result of projects such as mining and the government’s counterinsurgency campaigns,” asserted lumad leader Timuay Alim Bandara of the Timuay Justice and Governance. 

“I now realize that we have the same problems and issues on landgrabbing and we are not the only people who are experiencing threats of cultural extinction in this country,” laments Sufal Chakma of the Chittagong Hill Tracts or CHT of Bangladesh. 

Mr. Chakma refers to landgrabbing issues shared by the Munda people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. (The CHT, on the other hand, is a hilly and forested region in the southeastern part of the country.)

Time was when indigenous peoples’ representatives and activists were practically just at peripheries of, not inside, the United Nations’ headquarters. But thanks to their own true grit over the years, indigenous peoples had persistently lobbied hard for mechanisms and spaces within the UN system, which, after almost three decades, finally brought results in their favor. 

In Myanmar (formerly Burma), protests over land confiscations for the Letpadaung Copper Mine have led to a string of violent actions by state forces against peaceful protests. The most serious happened on 29 November 2012 when the police set fire to and destroyed six protest camps housing up to 500 monks and 50 farmers.

CHIANGMAI, Thailand – By actively engaging governments and various United Nations agencies, indigenous peoples from various parts worldwide continue to assert their check-and-balance role in ensuring that official biodiversity programs won’t unduly jeopardize their rights, livelihoods, community life and ecosystems.

For some time American soldiers, who were then based at their military bases in Clark and Subic Bay in central Luzon had tapped some indigenous Aeta to teach them about how to survive in a jungle. Former nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Aeta taught American soldiers how to trap wild game and identify edible plants and medicinal herbs and how to apply these for injuries. 

BRIEFING NOTE - ENERGY

MAY 2014

Indigenous peoples face severe human rights violations and exploitation of their natural resources due to energy production. The post-2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a unique opportunity to address unsustainable energy development on indigenous peoples’ lands and territories. Prepared by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in collaboration with Tebtebba, this note is intended as a discussion paper for stakeholders in the post-2015 development process. It focuses on indigenous people and energy-related issues and includes recommendations for the post-2015 development process and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

BRIEFING NOTE - GOVERNANCE

MAY 2014

The post-2015 development framework poses a unique opportunity to address the critical governance issues that are affecting indigenous peoples. This note has been prepared by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)in collaboration with Tebtebba. The note is intended as a discussion paper for stakeholders in the post-2015 development process and focuses on indigenous peoples’ distinct status and human rights and how these must be taken into consideration in the post-2015 development agenda. 

BRIEFING NOTE - HEALTH

MAY 2014

Indigenous peoples lack behind on health. The post-2015 development agenda offers a unique opportunity for indigenous peoples to address what they see as key concerns and priorities. The paper is intended as a discussion paper for stakeholders in the post-2015 process and reflects on the current situation of indigenous people and health-related issues and includes a number of recommendations aimed at encouraging a discussion that can feed into the development of the Sustainable Development Goals. The note has been prepared by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in collaboration with Tebtebba and with contributions and advice from indigenous peoples and experts

BRIEFING NOTE - INEQUALITY

MAY 2014

Inequality is a defining characteristic of indigenous peoples’ living conditions and permeates all aspects of their lives. The post-2015 development framework and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer an opportunity to address and minimize the inequalities faced by indigenous peoples today. This note has been prepared by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in collaboration with Tebtebba. It is intended as a discussion paper for stakeholders in the post-2015 development process. It focuses on the causes of and trends in inequality affecting indigenous peoples and suggest the key priority areas to be addressed by the post-2015 development agenda and in the SDGs. 

BRIEFING NOTE - WOMEN

MAY 2014

Indigenous women face a range of problems related to the violation of their rights. This note focuses on the causes and how they can be addressed in the post-2015 development agenda. It has been prepared by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in collaboration with Tebtebba and is intended as a discussion paper for stakeholders in the post-2015 development process. 

BRIEFING NOTE - EDUCATION

MAY 2014

If indigenous peoples are to enjoy their universal right to education, there are a number of constraints and concerns that need to be addressed. The post-2015 development agenda offers a unique opportunity for indigenous peoples to address what they see as key priorities and the way forward for education beyond 2015. This briefing note has been prepared by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) in collaboration with Tebtebba and with contributions and advice from indigenous peoples and experts, and is intended as a discussion paper for stakeholders in the post-2015 development process.

Miguel Bikan, a little known Miskito indigenous community in Waspam under the Regional Autonomous Government of the North Atlantic in Nicaragua, has finally mapped its territories and through this had settled demarcation of boundaries with neighboring communities.

The cool mountain climate of a large part of the Mexican southern state of Oaxaca, home to about a million indigenous Mixe people, is now getting warmer—a situation that has proved to be both a boon and a bane for the upland farming folk. 

Indigenous and local community representatives participated in a global workshop to review each country’s National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans or NBSAPs and prepare each country to set indicators for what is called the Aichi Biodiversity Targets covering 2011 to 2020.

Returning delegates of the recent UN climate change talks brought home not news of gloom and doom but something positive, which may yet help bring justice to island countries such as the Philippines that often get battered by extreme climate patterns attributed to greenhouse gas emission-related global warming. 

Manuhap Pandiangan easily climbed a 10-inch-diameter straight tree through two small pieces of two-foot long hard wood tightly fastened around the tree with a nylon rope. Then he uttered some prayers, and—around the tree up to about over 20 feet (5.88 meters) high—pierced the tree’s bark with a sharp knife, leaving several wounds on the tree’s bark.